The COST Executive Board (EB) prepares all decisions to be taken by the general assembly, the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO), and oversees the activities of the COST administration, headed by the COST Director. The EB is composed of individuals, who are elected by the CSO (ad personam). The Vice-President of the COST Association chairs the Executive Board.
Prof. Zoran Popovski
Vice-President of the COST Association
Prof. Popovski holds a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, where he works as a full professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food.
During his academic career, Prof. Popovski was a visiting professor / researcher at Lund University, Ohio State University, Tuscia University, Novosibirsk University, Sarajevo University, among others.
Prof. Popovski is the first Macedonian scientist in the Academy of Europe. He served as the State Secretary for Education and Science in North Macedonia for one term, and as a member of the COST Executive Board for two terms.
Professor Åse Gornitzka holds a PhD in Political Science and a Doctoral degree from the Faculty of Public Administration at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. Since 2021 to this day, she has served as Pro-Rector at the University of Oslo, Norway. From fall 2025, she will return to her position as Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo.
Before assuming the presidency of the COST Association, Professor Gornitzka has served in several governing bodies and committees in research and higher education policy arenas, both at national and European levels. She has also been a Board Member of SCANCOR—the Scandinavian Consortium for Organisational Research—at Stanford University and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Prior to her current position, she has held academic positions at Arena- Centre for European Studies at UiO, as a senior researcher in an independent research institute in Oslo, and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Bergen.
Professor Gornitzka has published over 120 journal articles and book chapters. Her research focuses on reform and transformation in higher education and research, as well as policymaking in the knowledge sector at both national and European levels, and the governance and organisation of universities. She has also contributed to research on the nexus between scientific expertise and policy making, especially at the European level.
Read Professor Åse Gornitzka’s biography here.
Prof. Popovski holds a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, where he works as a full professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food.
During his academic career, Prof. Popovski was a visiting professor / researcher at Lund University, Ohio State University, Tuscia University, Novosibirsk University, Sarajevo University, among others.
Prof. Popovski is the first Macedonian scientist in the Academy of Europe. He served as the State Secretary for Education and Science in North Macedonia for one term, and as a member of the COST Executive Board for two terms.
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